<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Saturday, June 24, 2006Prognosis good for Manley following brain surgeryBy Tom FriendESPN The MagazineDexter Manley, the former All-Pro defensive end for the Washington Redskins, underwent 10? hours of brain surgery Wednesday and, as expected, is experiencing minor, isolated memory loss.According to his wife, Lydia, Manley was hospitalized June 16 after police found him "disoriented" in northeast Washington. She said a CT scan showed an enlarged colloid cyst that was collecting fluid and causing increased intracranial pressure. Doctors recommended surgery, and Manley, 48, is now resting in the intensive care unit at Georgetown University Hospital.His prognosis is for a relatively full recovery, although doctors have told his wife that memory loss is a common side effect of the operation. When asked this weekend to recall his jersey number with the Redskins, Manley answered, "7272," and he also confused the names of some of his closer friends."I guess that's what the doctors were talking about," Lydia Manley said. "But he was asked where he was born, and he was right, he said, 'Houston.' The nurse said, 'Oh, you're a Longhorn,' and he said, 'Yes.' He's not confused. He's fine; he's blessed. He might be a little off, but not that far off. He's OK."Manley, who is 6-foot-3 and about 260 pounds, is expected to be hospitalized for at least another week. "I don't feel too good," he said over the telephone. "My head hurts, I'm cold a little bit. When I drink water, I get a little cold. They've been poking me all day. Needles and needles and needles."Manley, who was banned from the NFL in 1991 for repeated cocaine abuse, had known about his colloid cyst for 20 years. He had collapsed inside a Georgetown department store in April 1986 after an all-night drug spree, and doctors found the cyst after performing a routine CT scan in the emergency room. Surgery, at the time, could have been career-ending, but, according to Lydia, several doctors told Manley that the cyst was only the size of a nickel and that he could continue playing. They recommended a CT scan every six months to monitor the cyst's growth, but Manley stopped getting checked in 1994 when he left the Washington area and moved to Houston.He moved back to Washington 20 months ago to give drug awareness speeches, but recently his health became suspect. According to Lydia Manley, her husband was having repeated headaches, was feeling fatigued while driving and was acting clumsy."Well, he doesn't complain," she said, "but he was getting headaches, and he was taking a lot of ibuprofen. He'd buy bottles and about a week later, he'd say to me, 'I need another bottle.' I was like, 'Dexter, what happened to the bottle you had before?' And he'd say, 'Oh, I took that already. I'm done with those.' I asked, 'Why you taking so many?' He said it was from working out. But that's not what it was."He's always gotten sleepy, but not usually behind the wheel. But now he was starting to get sleepy behind the wheel, and he'd say a lot, 'I'm going to go get off my feet.' And I'd say, 'You haven't been on your feet. Why you tired?' He'd always feel like he had to get off his feet."And he would walk like a little old man sometimes. He'd act like it was a joke, like he was doing it to be funny, but it was probably because his head was in pain. And every now and then, he would knock over things on the table with his hand, and I just thought it was like him being the bull in the china shop. But it was real involuntary. He'd be kind of embarrassed, and he'd say, 'I don't know what happened.' So I think all those things were like the symptoms."It escalated to the point that Manley appeared "disoriented" just over a week ago, while trying to tell police that his car had been robbed. The officers called for an ambulance, and an ensuing CT scan showed that his original colloid cyst was now the size of a quarter. According to Lydia Manley, her husband was also experiencing obstructive hydrocephalus, which, in layman's terms, is "water on the brain." She said that fluid had been collecting in the cyst, and that the cyst was pressing on one of his ventricles.Colloid cysts can be hereditary, and Manley's mother, Jewellean, once had surgery herself to remove several brain tumors. Manley, as a result, was outwardly emotional before his own surgery, and made it a point to call his three children, including his son Dexter II, who will be a junior defensive end/linebacker at the University of Oregon this fall."He kept saying, 'I don't want to die,' " Lydia Manley said. "But he didn't get emotional until he called his daughter, Dalis. He said, 'Dalis, I have to have brain surgery.' And he said, 'Dalis, I don't want to die.' And he started crying in the emergency room. And that's the only time he got emotional. He wasn't strong at all. He didn't try to be strong at all. But the main thing he said to Dalis was, 'I don't want to die. I don't want to die.' And he didn't die."Tom Friend is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.</div>http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2499698&type=story
S'more:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Manley Keeping His Positive Outlook June 26, 2006The last time Dexter Manley visited Redskin Park, he was his old, jovial and outgoing self.Manley stopped by the park on Thursday, Dec. 22, as part of a Redskins Alumni Association initiative. He spoke with head coach Joe Gibbs, Redskins medical director Bubba Tyer and other familiar faces within the organization.That visit came four days after the Redskins trounced the Cowboys 35-7 at FedExField, marking Washington's first sweep of Dallas since 1995.In the Week 15 game from last season, Phillip Daniels came up with four sacks to tie a team record, held by Manley (in 1988 versus the Giants) and Diron Talbert (in 1975 versus the Giants).When Daniels' accomplishment was pointed out to Manley, Dexter let out with a laugh. Then he said: "Phillip is a great player. But as far as me, I could get you five sacks against the Cowboys."It was vintage Manley-upbeat, engaging and somewhat contrary in a humorous way regarding anything having to do with the Dallas Cowboys.A positive outlook and an optimistic mood are two of the attributes Dexter Manley is depending upon in order to take on his most recent challenge.Manley, 47, underwent an 11-hour operation last Wednesday at Georgetown University Hospital during which doctors removed a cyst from his brain."Our thoughts are with Dexter and his family," Redskins Owner Daniel M. Snyder said. "We expect him to attack recovery the same way he played football, full throttle."Five days after the surgery, family members said, Manley was keeping a positive disposition and thinking about his recovery process. They explained that the cyst first appeared all the way back in 1986 but that Manley was told he could put off a surgical procedure."We don't know how long he'll be in the hospital," Manley's wife, Lydia, said Monday morning. "That's up to the doctors. But I can tell you that he's in good spirits. He's in some pain. He keeps asking me, Why? Why do these things keep happening to me?'"Ten days ago--Friday, June 16--Manley became disoriented as he was driving his car in the District. He hailed a police officer, who took him to Georgetown University Hospital.Manley has a long and well documented history of experiencing problems related to drug abuse. Those closest to the former Redskins defensive end say his most recent problems do not stem from his difficulties of the past.According to Lydia Manley, Georgetown doctors have characterized her husband's condition, in layman's terms, as water on the brain involving a cyst inside a sack.As details regarding Manley's status become available, those within the Redskins organization offered their thoughts and prayers for his full recovery.It is hoped that Manley will one day soon be able to exhibit the same zest for life that he possessed in full during his most recent stop at Redskin Park, last Dec. 22.On that day, second-year Redskin Chris Cooley went up to meet Manley, a Redskin from the past about whom Cooley had heard so much.Dexter greeted Cooley with one of his legendary and all-encompassing hand shakes. "Watch out, Dexter," Gibbs, eyeing the greeting, cautioned. "I need him to be able to catch passes next week."Let's hope there are many more such moments of levity for Dexter Manley.</div>http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=17920
